AOL Can’t Avoid Federal Challenge to Favorable Arbitration Order

America Online Inc. will be in federal court to face a motion to vacate or modify an arbitration dispute it won, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said Nov. 29.

The U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that federal subject matter jurisdiction for motions to compel arbitration are based on the nature of the underlying claims, the opinion by Judge Paul V. Niemeyer said. There is no reason to have a different approach for motions to vacate or modify an award, it said.

There is a circuit split on the issue, with the Fourth Circuit joining the First ...